1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to heat dissipation devices and, more particularly, to a loop heat pipe for dissipating heat generated by an electronic component.
2. Description of Related Art
Loop heat pipes have excellent heat transfer performance due to their low thermal resistance, and are an effective means for transfer or dissipation of heat from heat-generating components such as central processing units (CPUs) of computers.
A typical loop heat pipe comprises an evaporator having a central region thereof thermally connected with an electronic component, a condenser, a vapor pipe and a liquid pipe. The vapor pipe and the liquid pipe connect the evaporator with the condenser. A wick structure adheres to an inner wall of the evaporator. A predetermined quantity of bi-phase working medium is contained in the evaporator. When a bottom of the evaporator absorbs heat from the heat-generating component, the working medium located at a lower portion of the evaporator is vaporized into vapor. The vapor moves up to an upper portion of the evaporator, and is condensed to liquid. The liquid flows back to the central region of the evaporator via capillary force of the wick structure.
However, when the vapor rises rapidly to the upper portion of the evaporator, the vapor may impact and disperse the liquid. Thus, a speed of the liquid flowing back to the central region of the evaporator is retarded. In addition, the evaporator is prone to become dried out, whereby it is no longer capable of providing an evaporation-condensation cycle for maximizing the effectiveness of the loop heat pipe.
What is needed, therefore, is a loop heat pipe which can overcome the above problems.